Young Writers Society

TAKING OVER

INTRO:

I woke up a bit drowsy on this particular morning. Today, to many people's beliefs, was the last day of the human race: December 21st, 2012. I stretched as I slowly eased off my comfortable bed. I glanced around my bedroom and out of the window, expecting some type of horror scene, but to a somewhat surprise the day had just continued normally like the countless others that have passed throughout my life. I had made my way out of my cramped bedroom and into the living room where my parents were into a heated conversation that I could not keep up with nor had any ecstatic interest in. I sat down onto the poofy, leather couch and grabbed the remote control off of the glass table.

I flipped on the television ahead of me, drowning out my parents’ voices in my head. The president appeared upon the recently blank screen - making an important announcement, or so it seemed. "And...as I conclude, I declare myself president for life." After the announcement was concluded, there were several gasps from the television. My mind went in circles around the statement which I had just heard. The feeling that gloomed over me was like nothing I had ever experienced, and I sensed that my parents felt the same way – like an ominous cloud arriving upon the perfect day. The three of us remained frozen, sitting in expectation. I flipped through a few channels and the announcement was on repeat, broadcasting through each channel, almost like a scene from some type of end-of-the-world, cheesy film.

All of our eyes were glued to the TV screen. It hadn’t made sense to any of us what was prominently declared by our president; we all remained in awe of what had just became.

Soon enough, my mom was the first one to react – she stood up and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to get a grasp upon the situation as my father’s mouth dropped wide open.

“W-what do we do? What does this mean?” My mom asked, shaking as she began anxiously pacing throughout the room. “Where do we go from here?” The worry in her voice was quite noticeable as my father stood up to comfort her.

I reached for the remote I had set down and frantically switched from channel to channel but there was no change from what had appeared on the television screen. I got up from the couch and raced to the front door, opening it up.

“Dad, shouldn’t we stock up on food? S-should we prepare for this or what?” I asked, occasionally stuttering my words.

“He’s right, Heather,” he answered, also talking to my mom. “We need to go now; Heather, you stay here, lock all of the doors and try to figure out what is going on. I can’t believe this!”

“Okay,” she replied. She hesitantly stepped into the kitchen and dialed her own mom’s number from the home telephone.

“Son, put on your shoes, we need to leave immediately.”

I turned around in a hurry and jogged to my bedroom. I sat down on my bed as I slipped on my Nike’s, thinking this over in my head. What’s going to happen? This can’t be happening… My eyes began to water up as I left my bedroom.

“I’m ready.”

THE BEGINNING:

We left the house in a hurry; as we drove down the road and made it to the commercialized part of town, you could see disaster on its way. There were lines of vehicles waiting to get their supply of fuel, while you could see people frantically hollering, shouting, and panicking. We parked at the local mini-mart as close to the entrance as possible. The outside of the building was a light-brown color with mahogany bricks covering up the first few feet of the building, accenting it brilliantly.

I hopped down from the large compact vehicle, slamming the door after my feet hit the black-top of the parking lot. My father and I nearly jogged to the entrance of the store, and once we had entered a voice went over the intercom announcing that the store was closing soon. I looked around, noting the looks and worries I saw in other’s faces. The actions of other’s have always interested me. One woman was piling all of the packages of water bottles she could in her cart as it looked like she was having a mental breakdown.

I followed my dad to the canned good’s aisle, as I grabbed a cart on the way. There was a blonde-haired lady on her cell phone standing next to us. She was yelling into the phone and seemed a bit incoherent as she screeched, “What do you mean?!” repeatedly.

My dad grabbed cans of food at the handful until we collected at least $55 worth. We went on to get bottled water, frozen goods, vegetables, and returned back to the bottled water by the end of our journey. Once we had arrived to the check-out aisle, there was an elderly man in front of us getting his items checked out. He had several packages of poptarts, a few books, and some rope. My dad and I just looked at each other, trying to make light out of a horrible situation.

The lady at the register was in a hurry to scan all of our items, and you could tell she just wanted out of the store to return to her family in safety. She looked at us and asked, “So what do you think of this?”

“I don’t even know where to begin. I truly don’t… In all of my years on this Earth, I could have never imagined this,” my dad answered.

“I don’t know what to do! I have two children at home. What’s going to happen next?!” You could hear the fear in her voice as she continuously scanned our items.

“Maybe all we can do is wait it out… Stock up on food, and keep your children safe – that’s the number one thing.” I had realized my dad was always good at comforting others, even in situations like this. I always found myself a bit awkward when talking to others, but maybe there is just never anything to say?

The heavy-set lady scanned our last item as she said, “Well you be safe out there,” with a smile that almost hurt her to put on.

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Began this story years ago, added quite a lot and edited it quite a bit. Thoughts, ideas, and constructive criticism is wanted. :)